The Addis Ababa Lions: Whole-Genome Sequencing of a Rare and Precious Population.

Lions are widely known as charismatic predators that once roamed across the globe, but their populations have been greatly affected by environmental factors and human activities over the last 150 yr. Of particular interest is the Addis Ababa lion population, which has been maintained in captivity at around 20 individuals for over 75 yr, while many wild African lion populations have become extinct. In order to understand the molecular features of this unique population, we conducted a whole-genome sequencing study on 15 Addis Ababa lions and detected 4.5 million distinct genomic variants compared with the reference African lion genome. Using functional annotation, we identified several genes with mutations that potentially impact various traits such as mane color, body size, reproduction, gastrointestinal functions, cardiovascular processes, and sensory perception. These findings offer valuable insights into the genetics of this threatened lion population.

Convolutional Neural Networks for the Identification of African Lions from Individual Vocalizations.

The classification of vocal individuality for passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) and census of animals is becoming an increasingly popular area of research. Nearly all studies in this field of inquiry have relied on classic audio representations and classifiers, such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs) trained on spectrograms or Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs). In contrast, most current bioacoustic species classification exploits the power of deep learners and more cutting-edge audio representations. A significant reason for avoiding deep learning in vocal identity classification is the tiny sample size in the collections of labeled individual vocalizations. As is well known, deep learners require large datasets to avoid overfitting. One way to handle small datasets with deep learning methods is to use transfer learning. In this work, we evaluate the performance of three pretrained CNNs (VGG16, ResNet50, and AlexNet) on a small, publicly available lion roar dataset containing approximately 150 samples taken from five male lions. Each of these networks is retrained on eight representations of the samples: MFCCs, spectrogram, and Mel spectrogram, along with several new ones, such as VGGish and stockwell, and those based on the recently proposed LM spectrogram. The performance of these networks, both individually and in ensembles, is analyzed and corroborated using the Equal Error Rate and shown to surpass previous classification attempts on this dataset; the best single network achieved over 95% accuracy and the best ensembles over 98% accuracy. The contributions this study makes to the field of individual vocal classification include demonstrating that it is valuable and possible, with caution, to use transfer learning with single pretrained CNNs on the small datasets available for this problem domain. We also make a contribution to bioacoustics generally by offering a comparison of the performance of many state-of-the-art audio representations, including for the first time the LM spectrogram and stockwell representations. All source code for this study is available on GitHub.

A serological survey of Bacillus anthracis reveals widespread exposure to the pathogen in free-range and captive lions in Zimbabwe.

Numerous unknown factors influence anthrax epidemiology in multi-host systems, especially at wildlife/livestock/human interfaces. Serology tests for anti-anthrax antibodies in carnivores are useful tools in identifying the presence or absence of Bacillus anthracis in a range. These were employed to ascertain whether the disease pattern followed the recognized high- and low-risk anthrax zonation in Zimbabwe and also to establish whether anthrax was absent from Hwange National Park in which there have been no reported outbreaks. African lions (Panthera leo) (n = 114) drawn from free-range protected areas and captive game parks located in recognized high- and low-risk zones across Zimbabwe were tested for antibodies to anthrax PA antigen using the ELISA immunoassay. A random selection of 27 lion sera samples comprising 17 seropositive and 10 seronegative sera was further tested in the species-independent toxin neutralization assay (TNA) in order to validate the former as a surveillance tool for anthrax in African lions. Using the ELISA-PA immunoassay, 21.9% (25/114) of the lions tested positive for antibodies to anthrax. Seropositivity was recorded in all study areas, and there was no significant difference (p = .852) in seropositivity between lions in high- and low-risk anthrax zones. Also, there was no significant difference (McNemar's chi-square test = 0.9, p = .343) in the proportion of lions testing positive to anti-PA anthrax antibodies on ELISA-PA immunoassay compared with the TNA, with fair agreement between the two tests [kappa (K) statistic = 0.30; 0.08 < K<0.613]. Results of this study indicate that anthrax could be more widespread than 42 currently realized in Zimbabwe, and present in recognized high- and low-risk zones, including 43 where it has not been reported in over 20 years such as Hwange National Park. This is also the 44 first report documenting the presence of anthrax lethal toxin-neutralizing antibodies in naturally 45 infected carnivores, further confirming exposure to B. anthracis. The research results point to a 46 need for revisiting the currently recognized anthrax risk zones in Zimbabwe. This should be based 47 on improved surveillance of the disease in both wild and domestic animals for better understanding and control of the disease.

The importance of tangible and intangible factors in human-carnivore coexistence.

Conflict with humans is one of the major threats facing the world's remaining large carnivore populations, and understanding human attitudes is key to improving coexistence. We surveyed people living near Hwange National Park about their attitudes toward coexisting with lions. We used ordinal regression models with the results of the survey to investigate the importance of a range of tangible and intangible factors on attitudes. The variables investigated included the costs and benefits of wildlife presence, emotion, culture, religion, vulnerability, risk perception, notions of responsibility, and personal value orientations. This was for the purpose of effectively tailoring conservation efforts but also for ethical policy making. Intangible factors (e.g., fear and ecocentric values) were as important as, if not more important than, tangible factors (such as livestock losses) for understanding attitudes, based on the effect sizes of these variables. The degree to which participants' fear of lions interfered with their daily activities was the most influential variable. The degree to which benefits accrue to households from the nearby protected area was also highly influential, as was number of livestock lost, number of dependents, ecocentric value orientation, and participation in conflict mitigation programs. Contrary to what is often assumed, metrics of livestock loss did not dominate attitudes to coexistence with lions. Furthermore, we found that socioeconomic variables may appear important when studied in isolation, but their effect may disappear when controlling for variables related to beliefs, perceptions, and past experiences. This raises questions about the widespread reliance on socioeconomic variables in the field of human-wildlife conflict and coexistence. To facilitate coexistence with large carnivores, we recommend measures that reduce fear (through education and through protective measures that reduce the need to be fearful), reduction of livestock losses, and ensuring local communities benefit from conservation. Ecocentric values also emerged as influential, highlighting the need to develop conservation initiatives tailored to local values.

Importancia de los Factores Tangibles e Intangibles en la Coexistencia Humanos-Carnívoros Resumen Los conflictos con humanos son una de las principales amenazas que enfrentan las poblaciones permanentes de grandes carnívoros del planeta y el entendimiento de las actitudes humanas es importante para mejorar la coexistencia. Preguntamos a las personas que viven cerca del Parque Nacional Hwange sobre su postura hacia la coexistencia con leones. Usamos modelos de regresión ordinal en los resultados del cuestionario para investigar la importancia de una gama de factores tangibles e intangibles para estas posturas. Las variables investigadas incluyeron el costo y beneficio de la presencia de fauna, emociones, cultura, religión, vulnerabilidad, percepción de riesgos, nociones de la responsabilidad y orientaciones de valor personal. Realizamos esto con el propósito de diseñar efectivamente los esfuerzos de conservación pero también para la generación de políticas éticas. Los factores intangibles (p. ej.: el miedo y los valores ecocéntricos) fueron tan importantes, si no es que más importantes, como los factores tangibles (como la pérdida de cabezas de ganado) para el entendimiento de las actitudes, con base en los tamaños del efecto de estas variables. El grado al que el miedo que los participantes sienten por los leones interfiere con sus actividades diarias fue la variable con mayor influencia. El grado al que los hogares del área protegida cercana devengan beneficios también tuvo una influencia alta, como lo tuvo el número de cabezas de ganado perdidas, el número de dependientes, la orientación de los valores ecocéntricos y la participación en programas de mitigación del conflicto. Contrario a lo que frecuentemente se asume, las medidas de la pérdida de cabezas de ganado no dominó sobre las actitudes por la coexistencia con leones. Más allá, encontramos que las variables socioeconómicas pueden parecer importantes cuando se estudian de manera aislada pero su efecto puede desaparecer cuando se controlan las variables relacionadas con las creencias, percepciones y experiencias pasadas. Esto genera preguntas sobre la dependencia hacia las variables socioeconómicas en el área de estudios de conflictos y coexistencia entre humanos y fauna. Para facilitar la coexistencia con carnívoros mayores recomendamos tomar medidas que reduzcan el miedo (por medio de la educación y medidas de protección que reduzcan la necesidad de vivir con miedo), la disminución de la pérdida de cabezas de ganado y garantizarles a las comunidades locales los beneficios que proporciona la conservación. Los valores ecocéntricos también surgieron como influyentes, lo que resalta la necesidad de desarrollar iniciativas de conservación adaptadas a los valores locales.

Comparative analysis of the intestinal microbial flora diversity of adult and young African lions / 中国兽医学报

In this study,the intestinal microbial flora diversity of adult and young African lions in the same breeding environment was detected by PCR-DGGE technique.Total bacterial DNA was extracted and 16S rDNA V3 region was amplified,then conducting PCR-DGGE.Subsequently,the specific bands of DGGE were cloned and sequenced.The bacterial species were identified by comparing the sequence through BLAST.The results indicated that the intestinal microbial flora of adult African lions includes Clostridium,Lachnospiraceae bacterium,Anaerovorax,Lactococcus,Peptostreptococcus and Blautia.While the intestinal microbial flora of young African lions is lesser,most bacteria are common to adult and young lions,such as Bacteroidetes bacterium and rumen bacterium.The UPGMA clustering analysis of the DGGE fingerprint showed the similarities of the bacteria structures between adult and young African lions were only 34％.These results revealed that the intestinal microbial flora has significant difference in different stages of African lions.This study lays a foundation for the development of microecological agents in different growth stages of wild animals.